Tag: round robin

Ma Chère Confidente,

I am done with this life. Raoul has changed me and I can never go back to the horrid life I led. I forgive Christine and all that she has done to me, although I will never forget it. I will leave them at peace for I have been shown mercy by my beloved.

The police are still searching the Opera House, but they will never find me. They are rummaging through my belongings, but I have everything I need until they finally leave this place and let me be, but I do not think they will ever stop searching for me. Madame Giry has only come to visit me once and I, selfishly, had no kind words to say to her. She has not returned since and I do not think she ever will again. As much as I plan a new life for what is left of myself to save, I do not think I can ever forgive her for what she has done. I was wrong about being the only one who knew this theatre inside and out, and I should have known Madame Giry would have betrayed me and led the search for me. She clearly had a change of heart, but as I watch most of my prized possessions being turned about, taken, or broken, I can only feel anger in my heart.

Christine did play her part in my plan to win Raoul over. She played it well seeing as it was the character of herself. Raoul was making his way across the lake while Christine yelled at me. “Did you really believe he would love a hideous creature like you?” she yelled at me.

Sensing Raoul was near I began my part. “Christine,” I said pleading, “We were friends. You told me everything. I helped you learn to use your beautiful voice to its full potential. I gave you gifts on your birthday. I don’t understand why you changed.”

“I didn’t change. I only was your friend because I thought you were an angel. When I saw your face, that devil cursed face, I could not bear to think my father sent you to me.”

“But he sent you a friend. You were all alone when you came here. I helped you. I just don’t understand how you could turn your back on me. After all, you were the one who took my mask off. We could have continued to be friends if not for that, but even so, my face did not mean I was a devil. Was I not pleasant? Was I not helpful? Was I not there to listen to your dreams and fears? All I asked for was friendship, but you gave me hate.”

“Is this true?” Raoul’s voice rang out. He was so close. I stiffened as he continued. “Christine. Is this woman speaking the truth? Was she your friend when no one else was? And you turned your back on her because of the way she looks?”

“Raoul. You don’t understand. I -”

“I think I do understand.” He turned to face me. “Madamoiselle, if you are speaking the truth, please let it be known that I am truly grateful for your friendship with my dear Christine. However, I cannot condone what you have put her and I through since.”

I nodded. “I apologize, Vicomte. I tried to speak to her alone, but she would never let me near. I would not have done what I had done if she allowed me to speak to her about our past,”

“I understand. I will put all this behind us and offer you my friendship if you let her go.”

“I will let her go, but I only ask one more favor to do so. A simple favor.”

He nodded. “Anything.”

“A kiss, monsieur, from you. And you two will be on your way.”

“Don’t do it, Raoul! It’s a trap,” Christine cried. She was correct and he hesitated.

“You see,” I continued, “Christine spoke highly of you and told me all the stories from when you were young together. I will never know of such things, due to my condition, so it is the only thing I am asking for. Afterwards, we can all part as friends and I will never show my face to Christine again. If not, Christine shall continue to keep me company for the rest of her days.”

Raoul stepped forward. “Alright. One kiss.”

As he came closer and looked into my eyes, I smiled for I knew that it was he who was to be kept here forever, but when he put his lips to mine – his hand resting on my cheek – I felt something stir. His hand moved upward to caress my hair and I could tell he felt it, too.

I pulled away with tears in my eyes as Raoul looked at me – the first time anyone looked at me with sincerity. He stepped closer to me and I put my hand out to stop him.

“Go on, Monsieur and take your bride. Leave me before I change my mind.”

I couldn’t do it. I could not go through with my plan. Raoul had kissed me! ME! And I felt a connection to him as I never felt before. If he did not leave now, I would never let him leave and he would come to resent me as Christine did.

“Raoul!” I heard Christine call out.

He was not moving, just looking at me, now confused. I turned my back on him and wept out of longing. I heard Christine move to him and then I heard footsteps running away.

Edmée shut the journal and a tear fell onto the cover. Raoul had not been doing so well in the weeks that passed since she last saw Madame Giry at the theatre. His time was drawing to an end and it was time he met his second heir. Edmée was starting to fret over what Raoul would say and it was almost time that her son would be returning.

Edmée grinned behind her skull mask. She had already gotten part of her plan fulfilled by getting Christine to return to the stage. Now she needed to complete it by getting the managers to perform the opera.

“What a lovely evening!” she bellowed, causing every face to turn to her and the orchestra to come to a screeching halt.

“My dear managers,” she continued. “I have a gift for you! A new, exclusive opera: “Don Juan Triumphant,” starring our own, dear Christine Daaé. Rehearsals will begin immediately with the show premiering one week from today. Should you ignore these directions, I will make all of you sorry you did not listen to the Phantom of the Opera.”

With a swing of her cape and an artfully placed smoke bomb, Edmée opened a secret door, leaving the attendees in shock. She made her way down to her lair to work on the mirrored torture chamber. It had the capability to get both very hot and very cold and was meant to make a man, or woman, go mad.

The next day, the managers were panicking. There was no way they could get everything ready to perform in a week. They had to hire twice as many set and costume designers. Even the performers were rushing to learn their lines.

Christine and Raoul were also panicking. They huddled in the chapel, hoping no one would overhear them. Raoul had not realized that the masked woman he had spoken to at the masquerade ball was the same creature who had captured Christine.

“Raoul, please don’t make me do this. If we give in, she wins. She’ll never stop.”

“But Christine,” Raoul said, taking her hand. “If you perform, she’s guaranteed to be there. We can have the police there to capture her. Once she’s in custody, we’re safe.”

In a secret chamber behind the wall, Edmée heard everything and laughed to herself. Yes, she intended to attend the performance, but she would never be captured. She knew the ins and the outs of the opera house better than anyone else. There were a thousand places for her to hide.

“I love you Raoul,” Christine said, kissing him. “I cannot wait for our son to be born and for all of this to be over.”

The following week, the doors opened to allow the public into the theater to see “Don Juan Triumphant.” Among the attendees were around 25 armed police officers and the chief of police. They were stationed strategically to cover every exit. Well, every known exit.

As the chords struck, Edmée adjusted her mask. Tonight was the night she would exact her revenge. She watched through a hole in the wall as Christine took the stage. She looked so lovely that Edmée could feel herself growing jealous. It was not fair that Christine could have everything and Edmée could have nothing.

Suddenly, Edmée felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and came face to face with Madame Giry.

“Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work,” the older woman said, crossing her arms.

“Yes, it will,” Edmée replied, glaring at her. “Everything is all set, and not even you can stop me.”

“Edmée, please. Leave them be. They’re about to start a family. Haven’t you any mercy?”

“Mercy?” Edmée growled. “No one has shown me any mercy! I have lived alone my whole life with not one shred of your precious mercy.”

“Was it not mercy when I freed you from the gypsy camp and brought you here?” Madame Giry asked, tears welling in her eyes.

Edmée turned, tears forming in her own eyes. “Just go. This has nothing to do with you.”

The ensuing silence told her that the woman had left. Her attention returned to the show. When the climax rose, Edmée pulled a lever that released a trap door right under Christine’s feet. The girl fell to the empty area beneath the stage. Edmée moved quickly, going to the crying girl and pulling her up by her arms.

“No time for tears, my dear. You have a part to play.” Edmée said, opening a secret door that would lead them down to the lair.

After the rooftop conversation that Christine and Raoul had, there had been talk around Paris. The newspaper printed that the chandelier at the Opera House needed to be repaired along with the structural and fire damage it had caused after coming loose and falling into the audience. The young leading lady, Christine Daae, was nowhere to be seen. Rumored also to be missing was the Vicomte de Changy. They were last seen together, which meant a scandal was in the making.

No scandal ever showed up in the papers, though, just a congratulations. A congratulations on the wedding that happened a few months after they disappeared from the limelight. Christine and Raoul had wed in secret, but played it off that they had been engaged for quite some time. The date and time of the wedding was never revealed and not many people knew the attendees.

The owners of the opera house through a huge party when the Opera House was ready to reopen and it was to be a masquerade. The newlyweds had RSVP’d and everyone was anxious to get a glimpse of them – especially Edmée.

Edmée was able to be among the public without a second glance. Her mask was elaborate and covered her whole face. It was made of black feathers, but had gold ones lining the eyes. Horns came out of the side and bent back and towards the sky. The mask blended in with Edmee’s dark hair so it looked as if she were sprouting the horns. One had to look twice to tell.  

She made her way around, nodding and greeting guests as if she belonged, as if she was wanted. Her eyes lingered on the form of the new Vicomtesse, but she never got close enough. Not until she saw Christine excuse herself from conversation and make her way to grab a quick refreshment. Edmee met her there.

“Congratulations, Christine,” Edmée’s voice whispered to the one dressed in gold and silver and masked to look as if she were an actual angel.

Christine stared at her clearly recognizing the voice. “Please leave me be.”

“Christine, please forgive me. I want to make it up to you. I have written a new opera. For you. Please say you will return to perform and let the past be the past.”

“No. I will not.”

“Please? You were my only friend and I ruined it. You don’t even have to forgive me. Just perform and I will make you a star again as an apology.”

“I cannot.”

Edmée nodded. “I see.” She looked Christine up and down as the opera star looked towards her husband. “No wonder you married in secret. The shame his family must have felt. I wonder how they would feel if the press got wind that the ceremony took place two months after you found out you were with child.”

“How could you possibly know that we were married after the news?”

“I have always been with you and I always will be. Also, do you not remember? You invited me to the wedding.”

“I did no such thing! I would never allow a monster such as yourself near me or my husband!”

“You invited me when you wrote to Meg. You knew word would get back to me, taunt me, mock me. You knew I would show just so you could prove you won. Well, you did. I concede. You will perform when the time comes, or all of France will know you for what you are. Would you really take away your husband’s pride and status?”

Christine lowered her eyes.

“You will know when the time comes. Return to me then, or bring public shame to your family.”

When Christine looked up ready to protest again, she was alone. She gazed around. By the time she had spotted Edmée’s horns, they were engaged in a conversation with Raoul. She could see he was smiling at the woman hidden behind the black and gold feathered mask. The woman leaned closer to him as Christine made her way back, never glancing away, but she arrived after the Edmée had retreated from the gala itself.

“Dear husband, what did that mad woman say to you?”

“Only that you were planning on returning to the stage.”

“Would you allow me to do so?”

“My darling, I would love to see you back here one day.”

“Then it is settled,” Christine whispered, tears forming in her eyes. She blinked them away quickly, just in time to see a figure dressed in all red on top of the grand staircase as if it had been there all along. The mask in the shape and color of a human skull staring straight at her.

Edmée was about to bring the masquerade to a swift end by scaring the attendees half to death. It was a night everyone would remember for the rest of their lives.

After that confrontation, Edmée decided that tonight was not the night for opera. So, she quietly went home, tears brimming in her eyes. When she arrived, she entered the house quietly so as not to alert Raoul that she was home early.

When she was in her personal parlor, she opened the locked drawer of her desk and pulled out the Phantom’s journal.

        No, her journal. Sometimes it seemed so long ago that she forgot the pitiful young woman was her.

        Sitting down, she opened the journal to the place she had marked.

        Ma Chere Confidante,

        I saw Christine’s Raoul today. He is so handsome! She had said that he was good-looking, but oh my!

        I am so jealous of Christine. She can be with Raoul in a way that I cannot. Her beautiful looks assure that Raoul would notice her, but her voice is no comparison to mine. Perhaps I can entice him with that.

The next few pages were torn out of the book, but Edmée remembered what had happened. A few months later, in an effort to lure Raoul to her, she had led Christine to her underground lair. At first, everything went well. Christine followed her voice through the hidden passageways, completely entranced. She looked almost like a deer in the headlights with the way she stared at her. Edmée could feel Christine’s gaze on her as she rowed them across the underground lake. She even stared when Edmée led her to her new room. Edmée never liked it when people stared, but she dealt with it for the sake of possibly meeting Raoul. She felt like she knew him so well from Christine’s descriptions and stories.

Everything changed when Edmée played a song on her organ for Christine. Engrossed in playing, Edmée did not notice Christine coming nearer. She did not see Christine’s hand nearing her face until it was too late, and Christine had removed Edmée’s mask.

The scream that assaulted Edmée’s ears would haunt her for the rest of her life. The piercing sound echoed in the cavern of the lair. Edmée felt her eyes well up with tears as she looked at Christine with a look of horror that mirrored Christine’s.

“Why?!” Edmée cried, clutching the deformed side of her face with one hand and her heart with the other. “You could you not have been happy with what we’ve had? Why?”

At Edmée’s exclamation, Christine threw the mask to the ground and ran into her bedroom. Wincing at the slammed door, Edmée went to her knees, sobbing. While her intention was to lure Raoul to the lair, all of her time spent with Christine had led her to think of the girl as her friend.

I should have known better, Edmée thought. How could I have any semblance of a normal relationship?

After the tears stopped flowing, Edmée picked up the mask and settled it into place. She strode over to Christine’s door and knocked gently.

                “Go away, you monster!” Christine yelled from behind the door.

                “I’m going to take you back,” Edmée said sadly. “Please come out.”

The door opened slowly, and Christine peeked out. Once she saw that the mask was back in place, she opened the door the rest of the way. Edmée turned and silently led Christine back to the opera’s foyer. She would just have to find another way to entice Raoul.

        Edmée could feel her heart pounding at the memory. She had expected so much more from Christine. However, that wasn’t the end of her heartbreak that day.

                    Once news got out that Christine was back, Raoul immediately found her.

“What happened?” he asked, holding her arms. “I’ve been looking for you almost the entire day!”

“Oh Raoul, it was so terrible!” she exclaimed.

Raoul rubbed her upper arms. “Oh, my dear, you must tell me everything!”

“Not here,” she replied, looking around her fearfully. “She could be listening! We must go where she can’t find us. But where?”

“The roof!” Raoul exclaimed.

As Raoul led Christine to the roof of the opera house, Edmée followed, taking her own hidden route. Of course, she was listening; she was always listening.

When she arrived at the roof (before Raoul and Christine, since her path was more direct), Edmée hid behind the statue of Apollo and waited. Soon after she settled in, they burst through the door and cowered at the base of the statue.

“Oh Raoul,” Christine cried. “It was so horrible!”

“Tell me, Christine. Let me help bear your burden.”

“Do you remember me telling you of the Angel of Music?”

“Yes, you mentioned that your father had sent it to teach you.”

Christine let out a sob. “Well, she showed herself to me tonight.”

“Wait, herself? You mean it’s a real person?” Raoul asked, shocked.

“Yes, and oh, it’s so horrible!”

“What is?” Raoul asked warily, immediately imagining the worst.

“Her face!” Christine wailed. “Oh Raoul, it was so hideous! It looked as though wax were poured over a skull! Her eye was sunken into her head and her lips were grotesquely twisted. I tell you, Raoul. It was so unbearable!”

“How monstrous! Certainly, such a thing is the work of the devil!” Raoul said in disgust.

Edmée felt her heart stop. The two lovers kept on talking, but Edmée couldn’t hear them over the blood pounding in her ears. She felt like someone tore her heart into two. She loved Raoul, at least as she understood the notion. Hearing him call her monstrous was the worst thing she could imagine. She let out a long, sorrowful wail.

“What was that?” Christine asked, looking around fearfully. “We must go. It’s getting late and I’m afraid of the darkness.”

Edmée watched them leave, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“So be it,” she whispered. “I’ll show you monstrous.”